Affliction
by AliceUndergr0und
Summary: This is actually not fanfic, but it was inspired by Tron, people, and my...interesting? imagination. Summed up in random nouns: future, anarchy, tech, underground motorcycle racing, and as the title suggests, affliction. Hope you like it!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Sometimes, you might find yourself in a situation that calls for quick action. Nowadays those situations come up more and more often, and they often mean your life. But during this time of "do it or lose it", you forget how fragile life really is. You forget how many lives have been lost already. The only thing that matters in that split second moment is survival. I had a split second to decide whether or not I was going to make a living off of this, and I decided.

"Breathe..." The energized crowd continues to surge my adrenaline, making it difficult to do so. My heart pounding in my ears, I have to focus on the road that stretches ahead. "No one can stop me now," I rev my bike, feeling invincible. The flickering city lights glow around the road, reflecting off my black helmet. The road itself silenced from any vehicles in the middle of the night. I now crouch down on my bike; four other competitors revved their bikes. Glitch had rigged the stoplights to go on our mark.

I looked up at the broken down Space Needle, and remembered the time long ago when it lit up bright. Now it was just an empty shell, hollowed just like the people left behind.

"This is for them."

Red, yellow, green, go.

The sound of screeching tires powered the crowd as we fly forward, my opponents getting ahead of me just as planned. They had already underestimated my bike, being only a Ducati 1098, made originally in 2011. I'll continue to let them think that I was going to lose. My speedometer lights at 80 mph.

"80, 90, 110 mph" the sounds of my gears changing behind my first opponent make him turn around. He only has a yellow Aprilia RSV, 2012 model. Nothing is upgraded, pretty lame.

"130 mph" my speedometer now tells me.

My next three opponents come into sight. Two have Kawasaki Ninja's 2014 models, much faster, but nothing mine can't handle. The other one a silver MV Agusta F4. They're all fighting each other for second place,

"This makes it easier, don't even have to do anything." I think.

The person on the blue Kawasaki attempts to smash the other one into the median, but the turn was too sharp and both crash into it. I wince at their piercing screams, the thought of burning flesh making my skin crawl.

Parts flew into the air, but I avoid them with ease when I hear "police" sirens behind me. The red Agusta kept on his path, not even noticing that I was right behind him along with the police bike.

He turns now hearing my bike on his tail.

"What the-" he started, when I gave the hand signal for cop.

But it's too late; the cop has caught the signal of his bike and slowed it down, providing my escape.

"200...230 mph"

The last guy comes into view. This one was going to be difficult. Somehow he had a Dodge Tomahawk and this thing is monster huge. There was only one way I could win this race now, but it would be risky. And I don't want to hurt another innocent person...I pull up on his left,

"250...260 mph."

He lifts his visor and smiles calmly.

"You." this changes things. And I won't have to use other means for a victory.

He pulled out a gun and pointed it at my face,

"Wrong choice." I smile back and duck, pushing a button that revealed the tube of liquid Opulentium, and pulled it from his bike.

His bike powers down, losing the blue lights that had powered his bike, falling behind mine immediately and rolling over, ending with an explosion.

Looking at the glowing tube in my hand, I put it safely in my pocket. This might prove useful later.

The faint sound of a crowd started to roar echoes as I come closer, and I slow and drift into the finish line.

A bald man with a goatee and pointy sunglasses approached me. He then took my hand and put it into the air while the crowd cheers wildly.

"Why don't you take off your helmet kid." he asks, as he always does, and I don't reply, as I usually do.

"Have it your way, here's your pay." the man hands me one grand.

I took the roll of money and put it into my leather jacket. Just as I'm about to drive off a gang of men approach.

"Hey, where you off to so quick!" they call out, one of the guys getting in my face. "So what'd you do with Warren? He's always finished a race in first, so why don't you tell us what happened," one grabs my wrist "Yeah tell us what happened." Another flashes a gun at my face. "Or, you could just hand us the money that's rightfully ours and we'll let you off the hook."

"Hey!" they all turn, as a, well compared to them, kid stands behind them. "Why don't you just leave her alone, she won the race so suck it up and take it like men!" Glitch is 17 years old, brave and smart. But against four grown men, "Not a chance" I think.

They all laugh "What you gonna do about it short stuff? Why don't you leave the grown ups to the talking and-" Glitch had now pulled out one of his inventions, a taser gun rigged with Opelentium, made to stun as many as he wanted at a time. He clicked the button before another word could be said and all four men fall to the ground, convulsing.

"You..little..." the leader tried getting the words out.

"Drive!" Glitch hopped on my bike and I sped off.

An awkward silence passed when I spoke up, "You picked up everything before we left right?"

"Yeah, got it all in my backpack." He yells and patted his backpack on his back, quickly grabbing my waist again.

I chuckled, "Not used to these kinds of speeds are you."

"Not really!" he yelled again trying to talk over the motor.

I slowed down a bit, "Thanks" he can talk in his normal voice now.

Another silence.

"Thanks.." I say slightly sheepish.

"For what?"

"For saving my butt back there, I could have handled it but I probably would have started a riot. So I appreciate it."

"Oh, no prob. Figured I'd repay you for all the time you were saving mine."

We continued on until we made it home. Well, what's home to us. It's an old abandoned apartment building. I pulled into the driveway and turned off the motor, I taking off my helmet and putting it on the driveway for the moment. Glitch hopped off, "Thanks for the ride home." Glitch lives on the floor below us, apartment 5C. He used to live with his friend Dex, but he's missing. Just like a lot of kids out here.

"Give me a hand with the garage door will ya?" He nodded and comes to my assistance. Glitch isn't huge like some of the seventeen year olds out here but he's got a good build. He pulled up the rusty garage door and I parked my bike next to Jay's. We then closed it and started for the front door, after I grabbed my helmet. Wood and brick had blocked it at one point, but we had made a way in through the debris a long time ago. Ducking in through the corner we made our way up the creaky wooden stairs.

"Oh, I left my screwdriver with your brother yesterday, can I come up and grab it real quick?"

"Sure."

The lights kept flickering making it look like one of those freaky horror movies.

"You really ought to fix those." I said when we reached my apartment, 5D.

"Yeah, I'll try tomorrow." he brushed it off as he has been doing for the past year.

We came up to my apartment, 5D and I jiggled it twice, and forced it open as usual.

"You should fix the locks too."

"What am I the apartment's slave?" He said sarcastically.

"Sh! Jay and Kirra are probably-..." the light in the kitchen turned on before I could say another word.

"Out racing again." Jay stood at his bedroom doorway in his grey wife beater and navy sweatpants, his blonde hair a bed head mess. "You can't keep this up all the time Norah, it's illegal."

"You should be grateful you got her around bringing home as much as she does, do you know what they just gave her as her street name? Aura, because she's as elusive as the air until she sneaks up on them and beats the-"

"Carter don't get into this, this isn't your problem. You shouldn't even be out there either." Jay put on his adult voice.

"My names not Carter it's Glitch!" he stopped and looked down when he realized how childish he sounded.

"Yeah? Well that's out there, not here you're not. Here you're Carter and she's Norah. Not air-fauna-stuff whatever the heck you said alright?"

"She's Aura..." he mumbled under his breath.

"Glitch, maybe you should go home now..." I interrupted him before he could keep ranting and wake Kirra.

"Fine." he kept mumbling as he picked up his screwdriver from the kitchen counter and left.

I pulled out the roll of money and threw it on the table.

"That should answer your question as to why I keep doing this." I turned to go to my room when he grabbed my shoulder.

"You can't do this to me Norah, we're family here okay? Yeah we're struggling but breaking the law won't solve our problems."

"What law Jay? Where's the president huh? Those people out there aren't even cops, they're just from that stupid organization whose 'attempting' to keep things orderly. But look around you! Does any of this look orderly to you?"

He sighed, "Things look bad now, but they'll get better. And it's still ethics Norah, you're better than this."

"Should I remind you this is coming from the person who used to steal for a living?" I blurted out before I could close my mouth.

Jay got really angry this time. His grey eyes darkened, and he avoided my eyes to control himself. "You still have a choice, you've always had a choice." Cursing under his breath he turned off the light and went back into his room, furious with me.

"Why do I always do that..." I sigh, guilty. I hate making my brother angry. After my parents were gone, and I was put in the foster home where I met him and Kirra, they were the only thing that mattered most to me. Keeping them safe and secure, which is why I don't have a choice with this.

I took the money with me and went into my room. Kirra's asleep on our queen sized mattress. Her dark brown hair spread over her old feather pillow, she looks so peaceful, so I attempt to stay quiet. I put the money in a high tech safe Glitch had made for us, that was found in a wall next to the bed and took off my jacket and shoes, quietly putting my helmet in the corner.

"Did you win?" Kirra asked.

"...Yeah I did." I plopped beside her.

She rolled over to the other side, "Good."

I sighed, I ought to change into my pajamas but it was nearly three in the morning, I'm just too exhausted. And before I could even start thinking of my day tomorrow I passed out.


	2. Chapter 2

"Norah!" a voice keeps calling, "Norah you promised! Common don't do this again..."

I grumbled, and opened my eyes slowly to the light from the window.

"Kirra it's too early..." one leg hanging off the bed, I roll over and put the pillow over my head.

"It's one in the afternoon!" She grabbed my pillow away from my head, "You promised!"

I looked up, her light brown eyes shone in disappointment, and she made that face again.

"Alright." I sighed and gave in.

"Yes!" she threw on her jacket.

"Where's Jay..." I say drowsily.

"Down at the salvage market." she said hastily rushing downstairs.

I sat up and rubbed my head. "I hate it when she makes that face..." she started using that face against me ever since I had disappointed her all those years ago. I thought, now that she's almost sixteen she'd grow out of that, of course not. I coughed and cleared my throat, got up and went to the closet, grabbed a pair of grey jeans and a black tank and put them on. I looked in the broken mirror by the door, my hair had lost its spike over night. So after brushing my teeth I ran gel through my hair and re-spiked it.

"Hurry up!" Kirra calls from outside.

"Kirra don't rush me!" I say irritated, and coughed again. I heard her grumble outside.

I grabbed my jacket with the Opelentium still in it and went out of the apartment and outside.

The garage had been opened up already and Kirra stood by her almost motorcycle. It's a white 2012 Honda Fireblade, we managed to salvage it from the wreck when we first moved here. Jay and I already had bikes and she was too young at the time to get one, so we work on it together so that when it's finished she can ride it. It was a mess when we found it, crushed from the building toppling on it. But now it has new body parts, salvaged the rest, she was looking in good shape. This afternoon I promised her we'd get it painted. I know an auto body painter and detailer in business, especially for drag racers looking to pimp their ride. She's a friend of mine and would give me discount for it.

"Do you have the Opelentium for it?" she asked me.

"Yeah got it yesterday." I pulled out the tube from my pocket and handed it to her. I thought of the man I had killed getting this tube, "I could have handled that a bit better..." But it's too late for guilt to plague me now, what's done is done.

Kirra took it with her oily hands and studied the tube, "Strange, powerful substance." she said and handed it back to me. "You never taught me how to put in the Opelentium." She said fixing her ponytail.

"No, I haven't. I'd rather you not get into direct contact with the stuff. Which is why I designed your bike to keep it safe within the bike. Even if your whole bike blew up that tube would be untouched by the explosion." I went over to her bike and pushed a combination of buttons on the side of it.

"Can I know the passcode?" she asked.

"No." I say bluntly.

"Why not? It's my bike."

"Because, you don't know what effects Opelentium can have on a person. It's an element that's unpredictable." I told her while the opening for the tube came out. I put the tube in and closed it.

"Then why use it in motorcycles?"

I looked at her, and smirked. "You ask to many questions." I sighed, "Because, so far that's the only way I've seen it safely used. It's safer than gas when used properly, more accessible now, and lasts a lot longer. But, if more mechanics did what I did, which is locate it in the center of the bike, then there would be a lot less accidents. But with all of the unnecessary crap they put in their bikes to try and make it run better they end up not having enough room. So, where does it end up? On the side, easily accessible, and easily explosive."

Which is what happened to the last guy who carried this tube of Opelentium.

She nodded, and hopped on her bike. She then took out her key and put it in the ignition. The Opelentium then ran through the bike, making parts of it glow, and it spurred to life.

"Yes! It works!" She said excited and put on her white helmet.

I hopped on my bike and turn on the ignition. "Let's go get her painted up." I said and smiled.

I heard another bike from behind pull into the driveway. Jay's dark blue Hayabusa pulled in. he parked it in between Kirra and I and turned it off.

He turned to Kirra, "What's this? You got it running?"

"Norah put in the Opelentium today! We're about to get her painted and detailed." She smiles ear to ear.

"That's great Kirra! But you be careful out there, don't go wondering off by yourself." He ignored me and took the bags of stuff into the building.

Kirra raised her eyebrow, "You guys have to stop arguing all the time."

"And you need to keep your nose out of it." I say and clear my throat, "Let's go."

We drove off onto the street and into town. Ten minutes later we pulled into Jazz's Garage.

"Hey what's up my friend!" Jazz came out and punched my arm.

"Nothing much, here to get Kirra's ride done." I cough.

"Awesome! And you must be Kirra, sweet ride girl. Your sister pimp it out for ya?" she laughed.

"Yeah," she said quietly. I could tell she was a bit intimidated by Jazz. To me, Jazz was just a little oriental girl. She had a little nose piercing and music notes tattooed on her arms, among other designs. But to Kirra, she must look like a freak show.

"Well let's get your bikes inside and see what we have to work with." We took the bikes inside, and Kirra whispered to me. "She has purple hair." I laughed, "Yeah she's eccentric but don't be fooled she's the best detailer in the country."

Honestly Kirra hasn't been out much other than the apartment. But most people out here looked like that, it's not really strange. Jazz had shaved the back of her head really short, but still black. And the top was longer and pushed towards the front with bright purple streaks. She should have seen her last week, when her hair was long with green.

An old Shinedown song plays in the background with the sound of a sprayer, and the smell of paint hangs in the air. Two other detailers worked in the back.

"So what color do you want for your bike?" Jazz asked Kirra, trying to involve her and get her to relax.

"Um...I was thinking white and black in it or something." she squirmed in her chair.

"Kirra, you can chill I don't bite." she laughs. "Okay, so are you considering any designs? A style you're going for? Do you like flowers, or is that too girly for you?"

Kirra laughed, "Nah no flowers. I was thinking I really like the indian designs, like the way they would put henna on their hands? So have a white body with black detailing of indian designing."

"Alright that's a cool idea, I promise It's gonna come out awesome. Just give me some time for me and your sister to discuss pricing and you'll see your new ride by tomorrow."

"Actually Kirra, why don't you go ahead home I'm going to hang out here for a bit okay?" I threw her my keys.

"Okay, I got stuff to do at home anyway. Thanks Norah!" She ran out the garage.

"Not a scratch!" I called out to her.

"She's a good kid." Jazz said.

"Yeah…but I worry about her sometimes. She's starting to act a little rebellious."

Jazz laughed, "And you being an illegal street racer isn't rebellious." She chuckled, "She's a teenager! Let her live a little, you and Jay keeping her in that broken down apartment twenty-four seven, it was bound to happen."

"Maybe your right…"

"Of course I'm right," she stuck out her tongue at me, "Give me a second I'm going to go put her bike in the back for now." Jazz got up and left.

I coughed, harder now. This time I took a tissue out of my pocket and coughed into it, trying to be more discreet about it. But I coughed harder, and started gasping,

"I...feel like...I'm coughing out...a...freaking lung!" I gasped and coughed, but it finally subsided. Looking in the tissue, it now had a blue black substance mixed with blood.

"Hey you alright?" one of the detailers asked me. "You looked like you were gonna puke your guts into that little tissue there." her Spanish accent was thick.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I quickly shoved the tissue into my pocket again.

"_It's never been this bad before, I thought it was just because of allergies or something. What is that stuff?" _I think.

I sat down and wait for Jazz, watching the girl detail a BMW, she looked up at my bike and then looked at me. "Nice ride," she commented, "I've never seen a Ducati like that before."

"Thanks, it was made in 2011 but I remodeled it myself."

She nodded in admiration, "Hey Friday, she did this bike herself." The man looked up at my bike and raised his eyebrows.

"You did that?" his deep voice was muffled, so he pulled down his mask. "Wow, that's beautiful." He approached my bike, "Do you mind?" I now recognized his accent. He must be Haitian.

I shook my head and cleared my throat, "Not at all."

He came up close and felt the smoothness of the body, admiring the jet black color that almost sparkled and the bright cerulean that etched out my initials. "Jazz did the paint job, I can tell. The structure of the body was kept classic but you completely rewired the way it works. There are a lot of people who would like to get their hands on your model if they found out how different it was."

"Most people can't tell just by looking at it that she's different."

He eyed me, "Yeah, that she's different...That's an awful bad cough you have."

"It's nothing." I suppress another cough.

I've heard that before." he went back to the bike he was working on and continued painting.

Suddenly a car pulls up to the driveway, four men exited the vehicle and approached.

The Spanish girl eyed them and then Friday.

"I'll take care of it, Eva." Friday walked up to the men who were headed towards me. The four look familiar, and I couldn't place them till I saw the burn marks on their necks and arms. Electrical burns.

"Can I help you gentlemen?" Friday stood up tall now and crossed his arms. I didn't realize how tall he was until now.

"We only came to see our friend Aura over there." the leader of the pack pointed to me. I gave Friday a nod.

"If you gentlemen need any more assistance then I'd be happy to oblige." It sounded more of a threat than a courtesy. Friday walked back to a motorcycle he was working on and kept his eye on us.

The four men came over and sat down on the couches.

"I hope you're not here to threaten me for money, because you know what happened last time." I rub my neck on the same spot Glitch had used his taser gun on the leader.

"Now Aura, don't be so hasty!" the man says coolly, I don't even know how they found me. I've never even taken off my helmet on the streets for them to know who I am.

"We're here to settle our little dispute. Since you insist on keeping your money, that's fine. Keep it. But regardless, my buddy here," he points to the man on his left, "is still hurt you beat our best man on the team. So, we have a deal for you. Double or nothing drag race. Only you and him." the man on his left raised his eyebrow at me and smiled.

This is certainly out of the ordinary. One, they track me down on the grounds of a wounded ego. Two, they claim that I didn't play fair in a game that has no rules. And judging by their classy car they don't need another two grand. Something's not adding up...

"That's quite an offer you have Mr?" I sit back and cough.

"You should get that checked out." he said referring to my cough. "Vaughan. Mr. Vaughan." using his real name, that's an oddity in itself. "So what do ya say? Do we have a deal?" the guy on his right showed a gun behind his jacket. This doesn't leave much time for speculation.

Doesn't seem like much of an option, at least I have a chance to win another two grand, that covers at least an entire year for supplies and food for my family and Glitch. I couldn't pass this up anyway.

"Mr. Vaughan, I can't resist a drag race like that." the guy covered the gun again.

"Good. Then show up at the abandoned mall 1 am sharp. Tonight." the four of them got up and walked out.

"Oh, and make sure you come," he looked at Friday and rubbed his burn, "alone." they all got into the car.

We all stand in silence, when Jazz came back.

"Sorry I-" she saw the car pull out. "Customers?" she looked at Eva.

"No, friends of 'Aura'." she pointed at me with her lips.

"Aura? Is that your new street name?" Jazz laughed, "I could do better than that."

"I don't care what they call me as long as I get paid." I sat down.

"So really, who were they?" She asked nosily, looking through some papers.

"Some guy named Mr. Vaughan, offering me a double or nothing race." I brushed it aside. Jazz stopped in her tracks, and looked up at me with the most terrified face I haven't seen since the bombing.

"Mr...Vaughan?" she repeated.

"Yeah? Jazz? What about it?" I got up now. She was silent, I could see in her dark eyes she was running my sentence over and over again in her head.

"Jazz?" I put my hand on her shoulder.

"Norah...Mr. Vaughan was the last one to see Dex..." she shook her head.

"Yeah?" I now remember seeing him talking to Dex a couple of weeks before he disappeared.

"And he challenged him to a double or nothing drag race the day he disappeared."


	3. Chapter 3

"You aren't going." Jazz said plainly.

"Yes Jazz." I said sarcastically, sat back down and leaned back, pondering what she just told me. Dex has been missing for over a year now, he was 18 when it happened. I see the point Jazz is making but it doesn't change anything, and I'm not 18.

"I'm not joking, you can't go. You can't do that to me, just disappear in the middle of the night and then not showing back up. Do you know how that would destroy Jay? They'll think you abandoned them."

"You're jumping to conclusions Jazz, you don't even know if this guy is responsible for Dex's disappearance. I'm not going to disappear, I'm going to win the race and bring back two thousand, just as I have before."

"You don't know what will happen, and before you even realize it you'll be too late." she started to raise her voice now.

"Listen, even if they did kidnap Dex, it's not like they could do the same to me. I'm not 18 years old Jazz and I could take Mr. Vaughan out and his little pawns." He threatened me but that's not why I'm going. I've seen some of those guys out racing before, and they weren't very good, it's easy money.

"Oh, because you can take on a mob by yourself. You're a good fighter Norah but be realistic here."

"In an ordinary case, I'd agree with you." I cough.

The sound of a motorcycle interrupted us, Jay pulled up.

She sighed, she knows she can't change my mind no matter how much she argues.

"Now I know how Jay feels..." she mumbled, "before you decide to go, just remember one thing. Kirra. Remember why you race Norah. Family, first." she turned and left, too frustrated with me.

Jay watched Jazz stomp off, looked at me and shook his head. "You've got a bad habit of making people angry, you know that right?"

"You don't even know what happened." I cough.

"Doesn't matter, it was your fault." He smirked now. At least he's not angry with me anymore. That's something I've always admired about him, always forgiving.

"I figured I'd pick you up, even though I should make you walk." we started for his motorcycle.

"Yeah...Probably." he smiled at the thought, and chuckled.

"I know your sorry Norah. I forgive you."

"I didn't mean it." I say as he pulls out and starts towards the apartment, "Even so, why is Jazz so upset? I haven't seen her like that in years."

I stayed silent. What am I supposed to tell him? He forgives me now, but tonight he's just going to get mad at me all over again.

"Another race?" Sometimes I swear he can read my mind.

"Yeah."

"Jazz has never had a problem with that, why is she so upset?"

I can't tell him about Mr. Vaughan, he'll be destroyed if he found out I put myself in more danger than I already do. I'll just bring the money home like it's another ordinary race.

"She's just sore because I told her I can't take care of her friend's ride on discount." I lied.

"Ah. That it?" he says suspiciously.

"That's it."

He raised an eyebrow but didn't question me further. I know he knows I'm lying, but he knows if won't talk about it to him, that he'll find out what it was either in the morning when he finds how much money was put into the safe overnight, or through Jazz later. We start walking up the stairs, the sound of an old piano getting louder as we go up and into our apartment. Kirra is sitting at the old piano playing a classical tune.

"Is that new?" I ask her as we both walk in the door.

"Yup, it's in this old piano book I found in the piano stool." she lifted the book; the pages were yellowed a bit.

"It's called Shattered Humanity, the composer's name is faded though. Whoever wrote the song was ahead of his time anyway."

"Sounds depressing."

She shrugged and continued playing.

"One day, I'm going to buy you a white baby grand, and we'll have enough money to get a real apartment. Just like those rich people who get real homes." I think. And it's true, only the rich and famous survived all this time and used their money to rebuild their homes. The poor or middle class were left to live in the ruins left behind. There are some neighborhoods that are starting to be rebuilt, but it's hard to rebuild something that just gets bombed again.

I walk into my room and plop on the bed, listening to what wouldn't be a creepy tune if it was on a better piano and the sound of Jay walking around in the kitchen, slowly drifting to sleep.

I woke up sweaty and panting, Jazz's tales of kidnapped children and testing had been intertwined with my parents and Mr. Vaughan. I look at the alarm clock beside the bed, ten thirty. Kirra's already asleep beside me, breathing heavily. I get up quietly and pick up my helmet from the corner. I slip on my black boots, changing my tank for a black shirt and put on my leather riding jacket, and black fingerless gloves. Tiptoeing out of the room I peek into Jay's room. He's not there, must be with Glitch downstairs. That makes it a lot easier to sneak out. I walk out the front door and start for the garage, stopping by Glitch's door. I can hear them both talking, Glitch using the big technical name for things and electronics. A glowing blue light coming from under the door, probably one of his inventions. The kid's a genius, Dex taught him everything he knew.

I continue on, making it down another flight of stairs,

"I'll see you around 3 am?" Jay called down, startling me.

I looked up, and smile wearily. "Yeah, just like I always do."

He gave a sigh, and disappeared back to Glitch's apartment.

I walked the rest of the way, hopped on my bike and put on my helmet. The garage was open, Jay must have just opened it for me. It's colder now, must be at least fifty degrees out because I can see my breath. I cough a little bit but suppress it as much as I can. I don't want another episode again and that stuff to come out of me.

What was that stuff anyway? Why am I sick? I never thought about it too much until now. This is clearly not the cough of a cold...I wonder if it has to do with-?

No, it's not. I haven't used that in ages because I was afraid I'd be caught. It wouldn't make sense to start getting sick from it now, because I've had it for as long as I can remember.

I start her up, the blue Opelentium flickering alive flowing through my bike, shining off the jet black paint. My initials, NG, glowed the cerulean blue from the Opelentium. A few of the orange street lights flickered, fighting to stay alive. About half of them are already out. I pulled out and drove off, taking about a half hour to get there.

When I arrived in the mall parking lot a group of men were gathered in the middle. I pull up, not taking off my helmet. I never take my helmet off in front of a crowd, even if they had found me and knew who I was.

All of the parking lot lights were on, someone must have fixed them up. The mall however was mostly in a ruin. Some buildings remained intact, but the place gives off a haunted feeling. One that reminded you of all the innocent lives that were claimed here.

"Welcome Aura!" Mr. Vaughan was the first to greet me. "I'm glad you could make it, well lets not dillydally. You'll be racing him." He pointed to the man that came with him last time, the one that was on his left. He wears a tinted black helmet, and he leans on a Suzuki Hayabusa, the newest version of it, and Opelentium courses through it like blood.

"And his name is?" I ask, not fazed.

"He's not one to give his name away," he came up and whispered now, "but I wouldn't be so confident, he's not a by the book kind of guy." No-Name was now flipping around a knife in his hand casually.

"Good to know I'm not the only one." I say, and Mr. Vaughan laughs aloud.

"Let's get on with it then!"

He leaves for a minute and starts talking to another guy there. The rest of them stare at me like I'm a piece of meat, winking and a couple whistle. I ignore all of them and focus on Mr. Vaughan, the man he talks to doesn't open his mouth but only widens his eyes. He then turns towards me and glares, Mr. Vaughan puts his hand on his chest and stops him from approaching me, and whispers a few more things to him. After he's done he walks back up to me. The man he was talking to continues to stare me down, taking in strained breaths it seems. I look towards Mr. Vaughan who now explains the track to me, it's fairly small and easy compared to the other races I've been in. Probably to just test the skill of the driver since there is only two of us, instead of prolonging it more than it has to be. I'm familiar with the area so it won't be to hard. Once more I look towards the direction of the man who looked like he was about to rip off my head, but he's no longer there. I look around, trying to find where he might have went, but I don't find him.

I shake my head and line up with my opponent, focusing all my attention to the race. First one to the circle the track and come back to the parking lot wins. The sound a gunshot cracks in the air, and we speed forward.

I speed out of the parking lot, cross a few roads, and jump on the highway in a matter of minutes. But I haven't escaped No-Name, he's right on my tail.

"100 mph." My speedometer tells me. And the gravity holder automatically activates.

I don't get it, his bike can go up to 150 in less time, but he's still choosing to follow me instead.

Traffic is light, not many people can afford cars nowadays. This is the rich part of town, I start to wonder why they chose this place to race. Just when I think he's not taking this seriously No-Name speeds ahead, going 200 mph. I speed up and follow him, weaving through traffic.

"190 mph" my speedometer says.

"I need to go faster," I pick up my speed to 197 mph. I'm right on his tail now, he looks back at me, lifts his visor, smiles, and goes up onto a different exit.

"What is he doing?" then I realized what was going on, and why they chose the rich part of town. A cop's sirens go off behind me. Cops are more prevalent in this type of area, where they can get a salary. No one pays attention to the poor part of the city. But I've avoided cops before, this will be fine. I pass a car and hide between another car and a truck on the lane farthest to the right. A bridge is coming up, and I passed the opening to the exit it by just a little too much. It's now or never. The cop is still trying to get a lock on my motorcycle's signal, before he could even realize what I did I jumped my motorcycle over onto to the exit that was going down under the bridge.

The cop continued onto the bridge, and I made my way back on course. The exit No-Name took was the long way, and the jump I just made cut my time in half, he must be way behind me now.

I continue at inhuman speeds, until I come back around to the mall.

"Four thousand in two days. That's pretty good." I think.

I come into the parking lot, looking for the finish line.

And to my satisfaction there the crowd is, waiting for the winner. I pull up, and everyone's giving dissatisfactory groans.

"She won, fair and square." Mr. Vaughan walks up to me, "Well done. I suppose I underestimated you. No matter, here is your money." he handed me a roll of cash.

No-Name now pulled up, Mr. Vaughan shot him a menacing glance but continued talking to me.

"Aura, I'm going to give my friend here," he points to No-Name, "another chance to beat you, a week from today. This time, there will be more racers. And a larger prize." he smiled, making me feel uncomfortable.

I was silent, and counted the chances of me winning another race against Mr. Vaughan's men, something is just plain creepy about him.

"How much?" I finally ask.

"We'll double it. Four thousand." he shrugged, "take it now, or leave it."

"Done."

"Excellent! I will see you in a week then." He whistled for his group to go, and just as they were all leaving I hear a bloodthirsty cry. I jolt, and look in the direction of where it came. And the man whom Mr. Vaughan had held back was now ripping through the group trying to get to me.

He screamed and kicked as the group held him back, instinctively I drive off. I look back once to see Mr. Vaughan sedating him and and one man drag him away.

My heart still pounding, I can't shake the scream out of my head. He looked mad. I don't even know why they would bring a mad person to the race. And something is so familiar about him; I just can't place it. I think I've seen him before. A cough attack interrupted my thoughts, I manage to keep driving, and reach the apartment at two-thirty.

I open up the garage, its hard work by myself, and park.

"Four thousand in two days." I think, over and over again, "four thousand in two days, four grand, in two days."

I'm almost skipping in joy now, if it weren't for my coughing. I walk up the stairs, into the apartment, and drop my stuff in the corner after putting the money in the safe.

"I think I'll stop by Jazz's tomorrow to show how alive I am." I think, and then chuckle aloud.

"What's so funny?" Kirra mumbles.

"Nothing." I plop down on the bed, "I got the money for your bike just now."

Kirra's eyes went from tired to bright. "Yeah?"

"Yup, I'm going to stop by Jazz's tomorrow to drop it off."

"Okay." she rolled over, smiling.

"Goodnight." I ripped off my shoes and jacket, and just like every other night I pass out.


	4. Chapter 4

I woke up at 2 pm and no one's there. My side really hurts, probably from sleeping wrong on this old mattress. I stumble to the closet and grab the first thing my hands touch, then into the bathroom and splash my face with icy water to try and wake up. I look into the dirtied mirror over the sink, staring back at the face before me. She used to have duller blue eyes, but now it seems like they've brightened, looking almost an unnatural cerulean and popping against the whites of her eyes. I look closer; despite the brightness of her eyes she looks exhausted, and sickly. Dark circles ringed her eyes from long nights. Her short black hair was dirty, along with the rest of her. Her face pale, this wasn't the strong woman I saw every night. Sometimes I wouldn't get home from races till 5 am, and I felt fine. Daylight drained me. I really hated it now.

I stripped off my dirty clothes and jumped into the shower, it's cold as always. But you learn to deal with things like this, simplify if you will. No water heater, no air conditioning or heater, mattresses on the floor, flickering lights, struggling to go on everyday. At least we had soap, a fireplace, and we never seemed to lack food. I had my gel for my hair, which in my book was necessary, and we had modes of transportation. That's the perk to being a mechanic; I could design a motorcycle out of scrap metal if I had to. That's almost what I did with mine. We had found her all beat up in a junkyard when we ran away from the foster care system. In a normal situation it would be odd to see a Ducati in a junkyard, no matter what year. But these were different times, the bombings had started up again, people were abandoning their possessions left and right to save their own lives.

I picked her up and took her back here to this apartment when we had just discovered it. I had completely redone the way she ran, most people at that time were just experimenting the way you use Opelentium to run things instead of gas. But I was the first with an Opelentium bike, it took everyone else a whole lot longer to figure out how to replace it and even now it still doesn't run the way mine does. Scientists were more concerned with improving daily living, so nowadays they use it for everything, running houses, transportation, even electricity has been replaced in some parts of the country. Not here though, they don't pay attention to this part of Seattle. Everyone is too busy fighting in this idiotic war, while the places that have been bombed are struggling to stay alive and for those that are alive, they live in chaos.

I wash up and get out, noticing there's something on my lower back beside my tattoo that runs on the right side of my torso. At first glance it looks almost like a bruise. Examining it closer, I gasp. My veins are a dark blue, swollen and popping, and the area is bruised black. The veins spiderweb out from the spot on my entire lower back, starting to run down my thigh, and crawl up my back. I gently touch the area, and wince at the stinging pain.

"This isn't a bruise..." I think, trying to quell the panic that is starting to rise in the pit of my stomach.

"Norah! I need to use the bathroom!" Kirra sounded from the door impatiently.

"Just a minute!" I quickly put on a pair of dark green cargo pants and a white tank I had apparently grabbed from the closet, being careful around my side that now throbbed.

"Hurry up!" I opened the door, Kirra cocked her head at me."You look like crap."

"Thanks." I said sarcastically and pushed past her.

"Hey you okay?" she followed after me into the kitchen. I grabbed a spoon that was starting to rust at the handle, and pulled out a jar of peanut butter. "Just peanut butter?" she asked.

"Yup. Good source of protein, so I won't puke." I stuck the spoonful of peanut butter in my mouth.

"You won't puke if you actually eat." Kirra put her hand on her hip, and shook her head in disappointment, just like our foster mother Gina used to do. Except Gina was a short big boned woman, I can still remember the grey wisps of hair that strayed from her bun while she posed like that, every time we did something we weren't supposed to do.

"Not hungry." I said while smacking the peanut butter that stuck to my palate. "But I'm going to stop by Jazz's to pay her for your bike." she relaxed her position now. I put the peanut butter away, and went back to our bedroom to grab the money.

"Where's your brother?" I called to Kirra from the bedroom.

"Working!" I heard the creak of the piano bench as she sat down followed by the song Shattered Humanity.

Jay works down at the pier, he works full time but they've been cutting down his hours slowly. Jay told me they already let go of four others, and he's afraid he might be next. The most recent bombing took place on the mouth to Salmon Bay, which was the original pier. Since then they moved farther down, but they don't have as much fish there as before. Nonetheless he still comes home almost every day smelling like a mix between sweat, salt water, and fish.

While it doesn't pay as well it's still a contribution to the bills, and the supply of fish doesn't hurt either.

With the money in my pocket I grabbed my keys and stopped at the front door.

"I'll be back, lock up and if anything happens Glitch should still be right downstairs."

"Because I need a babysitter." her brows furrowed.

"Because you need someone to protect you." I crossed my arms.

"I can take care of myself you know."

I paused, and pondered her words, I didn't matter how mature she was or how old she was, the world isn't the way it used to be and she didn't know how much danger was really out there. Homeless people breaking into rundown places like this to scrape up anything they can get their hands on weren't uncommon.

"My position stands, don't go anywhere, Glitch is downstairs." I turned and left.

Jazz met up with me as I pulled up, her expression one of relief.

"I'm alive!" I threw my hands up in mock exaggeration. Quickly putting my arms down in pain, I had forgotten about my newly discovered health issue.

"Oh shut up!" she sounded annoyed and reassured at the same time, and hugged me.

"I got the money for Kirra's bike." I handed her the agreed payment of five-hundred dollars.

"Okay let me put this in the back." she ran into the garage and to the back office. I got off my bike, slowly and carefully, and walked over to the couches to sit down.

Kirra's bike should have been at least one thousand to get the whole body done and detailed the way Jazz was doing it, that's plus the cost of the paint. This time I'm thankful we're such great friends; I don't usually take discount from her. But she had insisted that because I had discounted her for her tune up on her bike she would return the favor.

Friday and Eva are working on a couple more motorcycles. I wonder how many people can really afford a good motorcycle nowadays, other than the people who race illegally for the money.

Friday looked up at me, "Good afternoon." I nodded curtly in return. He seems to study me now, giving a sigh and a shake of his head as if he's disappointed.

"What's the matter?" Eva looked to Friday.

"Nothing, Eva." he turned back to his work, mumbling something in French.

Jazz came almost skipping back and sat down on the red couch across from me.

"It'll be done in about a week, it would be done sooner but hey I figured you got discount and I have a list of other clients-" she stopped mid sentence and pursed her eyebrows in concern.

"...What?"

"You look like you got hit by a bus."

"Thanks Jazz." I said and rolled my eyes.

"Sorry, it's just true. You look really pale and like you haven't slept in ages with those raccoon eyes."

"It's a cold." I lied.

"Well you should be in bed then, when's your next race?"

"Not till next week."

"There's plenty of time to get better then!" she stood up, "Go home Norah." she started to shoo me out the door.

"Alright, alright." I sat on my bike and turned it on.

"Drink lots of fluids, and get some rest."

"Doctor Jazz has spoken!" I teased, and coughed.

"Don't hurt yourself!" she laughed.

"See you." I pulled out and drove home.

I trudged inside the apartment and up the stairs, my feet getting heavier with every step. My side still pulsed with stinging pain.

"Maybe I should tell Jay..." I reason, and quickly change my mind. "That will just make him worry more than he has to, he's got a lot on his plate already. A little rest is all I need..." my thoughts blurred and my head feels as though water sloshed in it with every movement.

I opened the door, Kirra was playing cards with Glitch. They both stared at me with concerned faces.

"A cold." I dropped my keys on the counter, walked to the bedroom and practically fell on the bed.

"...I'll just sleep for a little while..."

My head felt magnetized to the pillow, thoughts blurred. Days passed.

Everyday was the same, daylight would come and my body would ache, the coughing only worsened, and the strange infection pulsated in pain. It was only at night that my coughing calmed and the pain on my side eased.

I spent my days sleeping, and my nights up and working on my bike or helping Glitch with whatever project he had. He let me know of Jay's concern, since I barely saw him now that I was working the night shift.

"He keeps telling me how sick you look during the day, he felt your head this morning and you had a fever."

"Do I look like I have a fever Glitch?"

"Well...No."

"Alright then."

He looked down, as if trying to gather his thoughts.

"Why don't you talk Norah?"

"Because I'm not talking now. Right."

"You know what I mean, you don't ever talk to anyone about what's going on with you. Clearly something is wrong and you won't even tell your brother? You grew up with him! They're your family Norah, and family helps each other. You're not alone."

I let out a sigh. Glitch doesn't understand, he'll never understand. He doesn't know what we've gone through to get up to this point.

"I don't want to add anxiety to our already anxious lives."

"But we help each other, we work together! If you would just-"

"That's enough Carter." I said firmly, and annoyed.

He abruptly changed subjects to asking about Kirra's bike.

And that was the last we've talked of it, two nights ago. Tonight's the night of the race. I've been anxious about it all week, wondering what kind of race Mr. Vaughan has prepared. He's had all this time to prepare the track any way he wants, ensuring victory. Last time it was a cop, who knows what kind of trap he has probably set up. Strangely, I'm not worried about that part, I've evaded trouble before. I'm not exactly sure what I'm anxious about honestly. But no time to figure it out, It's already 12 am, and I needed to be at the rendezvous point at 1, which is the abandoned mall. From there I follow Mr. Vaughan to his track of choice.

Energized I quickly change from my pajamas, which consisted of a worn out rise against t-shirt and sweat pants that snagged on the floor, to my grey-blue shirt, blue jeans, black leather jacket and boots. I look at my leather jacket, worn from use every night and a hole starting to form from what looks like moths taking a bite.

Maybe I'll invest in a new one when I get the money..." I think.

I shake my head and walk out, passing by Jay's room. I can hear him toss and turn in bed, and I know it's out of worry. He always tosses and turns when he's anxious, I know it's over me. And me leaving at night doesn't ease him, but I have to do this. He knows I have no choice now, and that it keeps us from starving.

I walk out the door and down to the garage. I had asked Glitch to open the door before he went to bed so it was now open, I hopped on my bike and brought it to life. The air was frigid tonight, and I find myself worrying if I put enough blankets on Kirra.

"She'll be alright." I reason to myself.

I race off to the mall. And just as before, Mr. Vaughan and a group of men await when I arrive.

"Glad to see you've not backed out on your word, Aura." he smiled, "let's get a move on while we can."

He hopped into his car, along with his bodyguard and a few other men. The rest rode on their bikes along with me and we followed them to the track. It took about a half hour to get there. We were now by the main highway, which led straight into the most active part of town. We stopped in a truck stop, or what used to be one, and Mr. Vaughan explained the course.

"The four of your will go down this highway, take the second exit, go through Allentown and the finishing point is the old International Airport. Got it?" not that he would repeat himself even if we didn't.

The four of us lined up, I was glad to see that they didn't bring that crazy guy with them this time.

"Ready!"

I revved my bike.

"Set!"

The gunshot crackled through the air, and we sped forward.


	5. Chapter 5

There's no crowd to cheer us on this time, just us and the road. As usual I play dumb and allow the three of them to speed past. I'm sneak attacking these guys. Two speed ahead, the first guy I raced against taking the lead. One lagged behind me, which was strange since I was only going 80 miles per hour.

"One less to worry about."

"90 mph." my speedometer said, and I'm starting to feel the centrifugal force acting on my body as we make a turn. The two racers are starting to get out of my sight, so I decide it was time to speed up. The gravity lock activates, and I catch up to my first opponent.

Expecting me, he looks back briefly and pressed the autopilot button.

"Is he trying to kill himself?" I say alarmed, just as he completely turns around on his bike to face me. He pulls out an Opelentium powered gun and points it at me.

I duck down and zigzag behind him, trying to avoid his shots. But my moves are too predictable; a couple of them hit my bike.

"Common!" I start getting anxious.

I thought quickly, I'm going to get shot if I don't do something fast. And so my savior came into view.

I slowed slightly, putting distance between the gunshots and me. My opponent takes it as a retreat and turns back onto his bike to take it off autopilot. As soon as he did I immediately jump to his speed and pulled up on his right side. It didn't surprise him at all, and he had his gun ready. What he didn't realize was that I had forced him to the farthest left lane, right where a broken light pole protruded into the street.

"No one, puts a dent in _my _bike." I said as I raised my speed and traveled to the right to avoid the pole.

He shot at my direction and attempted to follow me. But it was too late, I turned to see him barely touch the pole's end with the side of his bike, but at these speeds it was just enough. He flipped forward, the sounds of metal screeching against the street fading quickly into the background as I continued to my goal.

I take the second exit that leads straight into Allentown. This would prove to be more difficult. Weaving through this much traffic was touchy but not impossible. I got quite a few honks, and couple people flicked me off. It didn't faze me, and soon I heard a bike ahead of me. It has to be my final opponent. I picked up my pace. Traffic was beginning to ebb away as we traveled further from Allentown.

No-Name was right in front of me now, I flank his left side. He turned back to me, and continued at his own pace completely unconcerned.

"_What? No police? No guns?"_ I think.

I increase my speed, when my bike starts flashing.

"Warning, system override. Warning, system override." my bike starts flashing red. And my bike begins to decrease in speed.

I curse myself for thinking I could win this easily. No-Name started to get ahead of me, I was losing fast. And nothing I was doing was working, my only option was to reboot the entire system. It would only take five seconds, but in those five seconds my gravity lock would shut off. And it only takes five seconds for me to fly off my bike.

"I have no choice." Reluctantly I let my bike slow to 150 mph, got the firmest grip I could possibly get on my bike, and hit the reset button.

"System reboot..." the Opelentium powered down, and it became an ordinary bike. I feel the regret of my decision fall into the pit of my stomach.

Immediately I feel the force of the speeds acting on me, convinced this was my final five seconds of living all I could think of was Jay and Kirra. Everything I've ever done was for them, and now I've really screwed things up. How will they live now? Without the money I brought in, without me.

"This was supposed to better their lives..." my grip tightened on the handles. Gravity began to lessen it's hold.

"Do it Norah."

I flinched at the familiar voice, a suppressed memory. I told myself I wouldn't do this again, there was no reason to until now.

"Do it!"

I obeyed and held on, finding the unnatural strength to do so.

"Systems online." my bike finally said and the gravity lock reactivated.

I speed up immediately and catch up to No-Name.

He looks at me in surprise, but he's unable to do anything now. My bike is much faster than his, and I pass him. In his shock he does nothing to try and stop me. I've won their games.

I turn into the airport exit and pull in, my mind very distracted on the thought of the shock shield No-Name had used on me. In fact, the last time I saw one was when Dex was demonstrating his small prototype, when the invention was still in the process of being made...Dex!

"_So Jazz was right. They have him, and he's alive."_

I pull into the location Mr. Vaughan had described and turned off my motor, wrapped in my thoughts. "Dex did it. And that moron tried to use it on me. I can't remember how it works..." All I can remember is that as soon as any Opelentium powered vehicle rode into it's perimeter the systems were overrode and eventually would shut off. But the shield only lasted so long.

I shook my head to clear my confused, cloudy thoughts and look around.

"...Where is everyone?" I say aloud. I should have checked earlier. No one, not Mr. Vaughan, his body guard, or the other racers have shown up. Not a sound has been made, except my own nervous breath. Honestly it's getting kind of creepy just standing around here.

"Hello?" I call out. By now No-Name should have shown up.

"I should have known this was a set up!" I yell angrily. There's no money, nothing. Just a stupid race and for what? To try and kill me because I took two grand from him. This was child's play, and I'm tired of the games.

"...Norah..." a voice calls behind me.

I look around, but no one's there, I take my helmet off now.

"Who's there?" I call out. Silence answers.

"Norah!" the voice yells now, a man's voice, and then it cackles.

"How do you know my name?" I look around panicking; still no body is found to match the voice. My heart starts to pound, my instinct is to run but my fear holds me in place.

I now feel a whisper over my shoulder, and feel the lung-less breath on my neck. My hair stands on end.

"I know more than that...Norah Gray." it whispers. I whip my leg over my bike and kick at the voice, feeling the impact of a face against it. It yelps in surprise, and I see a drop of blood fall to the cement. But still there is no face for it to come from. It laughs again, "You killed Warren." now many whispers surround me, some seem to even come from inside my head. I scream and fall to my knees, trying to suppress what was about to come out of me.

"Enough Zenith! Do you want to set her off?" Mr. Vaughan's voice called, I looked around but still couldn't find anyone. At least the voices stopped.

"Yes Sir." the voice called, sarcastically. And then something smashed against my ribs, I doubled over in pain and started to cough again, blood mixed with black blue fluid spilled onto the concrete. The voice cackled again, the feeling now came back. And this time there was no stopping it, "Look what you have done!" Mr. Vaughan's voice had called again.

The Opelentium coursed through my veins now, just like it does in my bike. Strong and cool it felt, I found I actually missed it. It was the same feeling I had when I kept myself from flying off my bike.

I started to feel everything around me, the tiniest vibration. I could smell everything, hear everything, see everything. My senses improved, I identified where the voice came from, and saw the cut on the invisible face. Wiping the polluted blood from the corner of my mouth I stood up, ran up to it and grabbed it, lifting it into the air with ease.

He gasped, "That wasn't very nice." I said and slammed him into the ground, the concrete cracking. A man materialized before me, staring straight into my eyes, the same eyes as the one they called Warren. Warren, I remember now. He was the one I had raced against the first time; the one who's Opelentium was now running through Kirra's bike. And this was the same crazed man that Mr. Vaughan had sedated before.

"Say goodbye to Jay and Kirra." he managed to get out before I pushed him harder into the ground, falling unconscious. His laugh now echoed in my head again, and voices started to circle.

"Jay! Kirra!" I call out. I got up, angrier than before. The Opelentium pumped harder and faster now. I looked down at my hands; they felt like they were going numb. The veins in my palms began to turn a white bluish color; it reminded me of the strange bruise on my side. No it looks like they're glowing almost, I embraced the cold tingling sensation.

I look up, Mr. Vaughan was standing right in front of me, afraid. "Do something!" he managed to blurt out.

Something grabbed me from behind and held me tight, I struggled for a second before a cloth was placed over my mouth. I gasped for air, but then I realized that was a mistake. _"Chloroform."_

With the drug being forced down my lungs, the world started to spin and melt into blackness.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Don't, please!" I beg him, but I know that he's not himself nor will he answer me. He approaches with fluid movements, as if he had choreographed each of his steps leading up to this moment prior. I know he hadn't, but the way he now advanced with death written in his body language, that makes it hard to believe so. The dagger gets closer to my throat. I back up against the wall, praying that he'll wake up.

He tilts his head in a sadistic fashion, and presses the cold blade on my neck. Tears now spill down my face, I think he'll actually do it this time. Sensing my demise, I try to keep sane. The thought of death does things to you, crazy things, anything, to hold on to what little you have. If only this dagger wasn't on my throat, I could at least calm him. This is the worst he's ever been before.

"Heath," my voice cracked as more tears fell, "it's going to be okay. I promise." He presses the dagger a little harder, the mask he wears makes him expressionless in his actions. My skin stung with the pressure, I think I'm starting to bleed.

Instinct again pushes me to save myself, but I think I'm getting sick too. What's saving my short life over his? It's nothing, absolutely nothing. I suppress any desire to fight back, better that I go than he. Angst pounds in my heart as I come to realize he won't make it anyway if I'm dead. No one will take care of him.

The venetian mask just stares at me for a moment while I whimper. I feel the heat of sticky blood slide down my throat to my chest. My thoughts turn frantic, there had been times when I felt like dying. But I didn't know that when I got there it would be so frightening. Let alone that when I stared death in the face it would look like my brother.

"Empty promises." he whispers in my head and draws the dagger back. He tells me now to stay still, I fight the persuasion but it's so hard. I don't feel like trying anymore, my will power is so weak from all the times he has attacked me.

My body obeys the command as he rises the dagger in the air.

I try to find his eyes, to see if I can snap him out of it. But the cracked mask shadows them, and his sea green eyes are darkened, missing, like his mind is. The only thing I can see is part of his chin and the corner of his frowned mouth.

He plunges the dagger towards me, I shut my eyes tight.

"I really did try love." I think. And I know that Daemyn would have been proud of my efforts.

I feel the force of impact, to the side of me. I open my eyes, Heath is panting, leaning down in front of me. The dagger is driven into the wall on my side, his hand still on it. He starts to coughing again, always coughing so much...

"It's okay," I drop down to my knees and try to calm him. The dagger clatters on the wood floor. He collapses down on his knees and I rest his head against my shoulder, stroking his dark brown hair.

He doesn't cease though, and it worsens. I ease him into a laying down position and put his head in my lap. He coughs until that purple black fluid comes out, it spills down the corner of his mouth, the one that I can see, and down his chin onto my tattered dress.

"Make it stop..."

"I don't know if I can do that right now...What if you don't wake up? You know what happened to-"

"Please..."

He pleaded, without persuasion. This was the brother that I knew. I started to hum the tune Shattered Humanity, we would listen to it as children. The same one we had overheard the composer playing on the piano, right here in this theatre many years ago. Heath shivered, and his breathing evened out as he fell asleep. I had only tried to calm his mind, at least I didn't knock him unconscious.

He rested peacefully now on my lap. I longed to take off the mask that covered his face, but I know I can't. Ever since that incident, it's like it was molded onto him. And since then he has become...I don't even know the word for it. Inhuman, he's never been the same. He developed this alternate personality that became more prominent when he got sick.

I take in a breath of air, relieved that his episode was over and that he hadn't tried to commit suicide this time.

Anguish washed over me as I contemplated what I would do next. I don't know. He keeps getting worse and worse. Is there a cure anywhere? Even if there was I couldn't go get it and leave him here alone. But I can't very well take him with me, not in his condition.

A drop of the purple black fluid falls onto Heath's mask, startled I look up at the ceiling, nothing but the sunlight that spilled through the many holes in the roof. I look down at my ruined neckline of my dress, it's soaked with it. I realize it's spilling out from the cut on my throat. It's okay though, I don't feel it very much. My head just feels a little light...

I look back down his prone form, he looks like a child when he sleeps. I decide then and there that if I can't cure Heath, the least I can do is give him the best that I can. It doesn't matter to me if he's nineteen going on twenty, he'll always be my little brother.

"We'll get through this together, always." I smile down at him, and cough.


End file.
